Hydrothermal enrichment of lithium in intracaldera illite-bearing claystones

Abstract

Developing a sustainable supply chain for the global proliferation of lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles and grid storage necessitates the extraction of lithium resources that minimize local environmental impacts. Volcano sedimentary lithium resources have the potential to meet this requirement, as they tend to be shallow, high-tonnage deposits with low waste:ore strip ratios. Illite-bearing Miocene lacustrine sediments within the southern portion of McDermitt caldera (USA) at Thacker Pass contain extremely high lithium grades (up to ~1 weight % of Li), more than double the whole-rock concentration of lithium in smectite-rich claystones in the caldera and other known claystone lithium resources globally (<0.4 weight % of Li). Illite concentrations measured in situ range from ~1.3 to 2.4 weight % of Li within fluorine-rich illitic claystones. The unique lithium enrichment of illite at Thacker Pass resulted from secondary lithium- and fluorine-bearing hydrothermal alteration of primary neoformed smectite-bearing sediments, a phenomenon not previously identified.

Progress and frontiers of critical mineral resource availability research based on the perspective of industrial chain

“…Sverdrup 等 [70] 和 Verhoef 等 [71] 运用系统动力学构建矿 产资源全产业链流通模型以预测矿产资源长期供 给形势； Nguyen 等 [72] 利用反映钴、 铜和镍共同生产 以及回收特性的动态系统动力学模型， 结合供应、 需求、 价格和产能扩张之间的反馈， 估计了 2020- [76] 从经济角度评估资源供应能力， 使用资源稀缺性潜 力 (ESP) 信息补充现有的 LCA 模型， 识别与资源使 用相关的潜在供应风险； Drielsma 等 [77] United States Geological Survey [78] 、 中华人民共和国自然资源部 [79] 、 Goovaerts [80] 、 Moon 等 [81] 、 Rossi 等 [82] Benson 等 [83] Baars 等 [84] 、 Greim 等 [85] 、 Elshkaki 等 [86,87] 和 Wang 等 [50] 、 Wang 等 [88] 陈毓川等 [89] Cordano 等 [90] 、 Cosi [91] Graedel 等 [92] 、 Severson 等 [73] Rosenau-Tornow 等 [93] Schipper 等 [94] 、 陈甲斌 [95] Zhu 等 [96] 、 Jin 等 [97] 陈凡 [98] 、 安文杰等 [99] 、 Okada [100] 、 罗振中等 [101] Nassar 等 [102] 、 Gulley 等 [103] Graedel 等 [104] 、 Nicolli 等 [105] Zhang 等 [106] 、 李华姣等 [107] 、 许明等 [108] Sievers 等 [109] 、 刘舒飞等 [110] 、 Tang 等 [111] 、 安海忠等 [112] 刘克强等 [113] Daly 等 [114] 、 Cheng 等 [115] Yi 等 …”

Electric vehicles come of age, begin to erode gasoline and diesel demand

“…A new study published in the journal, Science Advances, suggests that not only could the lithium deposit in Nevada be one of the largest in the world, but it could also be one of the easiest to mine. 9 Most lithium deposits outside China to date have been found in Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, China, and Australia.…”

Pleistocene shifts in Great Basin hydroclimate seasonality govern the formation of lithium-rich paleolake deposits

“…Here, we present new evidence of late Pliocene and early Quaternary hydroclimate shifts recorded in lake sediments from Clayton Valley, a paleolake basin in Nevada that is currently the site of a lithium brine operation. Understanding the evolution of this lake basin therefore has the potential to shed light on the environmental conditions that help concentrate lithium, an element critical to the energy transition, in sedimentary environments such as Clayton Valley and other locations (Vine, 1975;Davis et al, 1986;Gagnon et al, 2023;Benson et al, 2023).…”